


Stuck On The Bridge Between Us

by Dani_Bond



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-07-28 22:41:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7659709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dani_Bond/pseuds/Dani_Bond
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If Jared were being honest with himself, he knew this day would come. Though he assumed it wouldn't be done face to face with the man he had complete faith in. Or by the people he finally admitted to be his friends. These were the people he knew had their flaws but their hearts were in the right place. </p>
<p>--- </p>
<p>All Jared had for Monica was praise. She deserves this opportunity, not me. Jared could never compete with Monica. He knew that all along since TechCrunch Disrupt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stuck On The Bridge Between Us

**Author's Note:**

> Set after 03x10 The Uptick.

If Jared were being honest with himself, he knew this day would come. Though he assumed it wouldn't be done face to face with the man he had complete faith in. Or by the people he finally admitted to be his friends. These were the people he knew had their flaws but their hearts were in the right place.

In this moment however, all Jared felt was absolute betrayal.

It was unusual for Richard and Jared to be sitting like this. Here in the kitchen where they've worked so hard to keep this company afloat: interviewing engineers, scheduling deadlines, holding meetings. Together, side by side. But now they were sitting face to face. They were unattached, no sentiments this way.

Jared just kept repeating to himself, "But they were partners, right? Not here, not anymore, stop that kind of thinking." The reality of the situation is sinking in and it's time to forget everything he thought he could cherish. This is a formality, and Richard is handling this well. A true leader and CEO. He'll be fine continuing on without him.

"Thank you for this opportunity. This is a completely understandable and a necessary move for the future of Pied Piper." Jared spoke calmly, he never needed to put on his business persona for Richard. He thought he might as well try to be kind in his final hours working with Pied Piper. To him, they were essentially family, and although Hollywood insists that families stick together through the messiness of life - well Jared never had that luxury.

He took a leap of faith with Pied Piper, and missed his target, life is destructive like that. Jared commended their decision anyway, "Monica is very qualified."

This whole situation was justifiable. It was a logical move for Monica to take his position at Pied Piper. After all, he was only recently appointed board member. She even had the same skills as him and could do it better, more efficiently. Monica had been involved with Pied Piper since the beginning. She has the connections to take the proper steps to upscale their video chat consumer numbers and marketing promotions. She was competent with the general public as well as the business world. All Jared had for Monica was praise. She deserves this opportunity, not me. Jared could never compete with Monica. He knew that all along since TechCrunch Disrupt.

Richard looked down at his hands and fidgeted with the sheets of paper, his copy of the severance agreement. Pied Piper couldn't afford a severance package for anyone else, but Richard pushed for one this time. Jared had nothing but loyalty for this company and he damn well doesn't deserve this - but Richard was out voted.

"It wouldn't make financial sense to keep both Monica and Jared. Jared deserves better anyway," Richard rationalized, "letting him leave Pied Piper, it'll let him find something less shitty. Better pay and work hours. He'll finally be able to afford his place again."

Richard hesitated flipping to the last page of the agreement, as if some miracle could just hand over enough money to keep Jared on the team.

Of course, nothing happened.

Richard flipped the page and disjointedly summarized the terms of his release with the company, "So basically, we're trying to give you something. This is shocking, I know, but you trust me, right? The company is making the right move, right? I mean I also don't know what we're going to do without you, well actually, Monica already has our business plan created and synced to our phones and laptops, the deadlines are even colour coded. We actually have meetings with four investors within the next two weeks. It's quite impressive actually. But anyway Jared, you need to understand that all Pied Piper property must be returned. You already know about confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements and obviously the non-compete clause. You need to understand that you no longer have Pied Piper shares, or any association with Pied Pier for that matter." Jared noticed that Richard visibly scrunched his shoulders at that statement. Richard stammered on, "Jared, I know $10,000 isn't a lot but Pied Piper appreciates your loyalty and this is what we can offer. It's been a long, tough run for us, but we got this far. I wished I could show more appreciation for that by doing something other than this, 'cause well this clearly sucks, I mean c'mon after all the shitty investors trying to fuck with my product, my platform, which is still my goal, but we need to pivot right now and make some changes to who's involved with the company and..."

Jared has already been through this with Google. That was back when he thought Hooli was his ticket to recognition. When that didn't work out, his separation from Hooli was a bit more complicated in comparison but he knew the drill.

Jared ignored what Richard was saying and watched him from across the table instead. This may be the final time he gets to be this close to Richard. He glanced at his curly hair that looked so soft despite never appearing truly combed. He looked at Richard's expression, it wasn't quite a scowl but it was clear that he was in distress. Richard was always so expressive, an open book if you just looked. Jared watched the way that Richard's bright eyes darted across the page. He had one hand gripping the stapled corner while his other hand flailed wildly. He was going to miss Richard's insistence. The intensity Richard has when he cares. Jared thinks that's the only way Pied Piper is going to go down: fighting and screaming.

But not today.

Because Jared will make the sacrifice.

To save Richard and to save Pied Piper.

Jared interrupted Richard before he became dizzy with the run on sentence he was droning on about, "Richard, I'll sign it."

Richard pointed to the signature line and watched Jared sign one copy, followed by the other copy. It was done.

For a quick moment, they both simply stared at the finality of Jared's ties with Pied Piper. Their two signatures side by side. Just as suddenly, they looked up into each other's eyes. Jared offered a gentle half-smile to show that he supported this decision.

Richard wanted to admit to Jared that he fought to keep him in the company. He argued for a long time during the board meeting that Jared is an essential asset. He wanted to reveal that his business expertise is valuable, but most importantly, Jared has always been his voice of 'not quite' reason. It somehow worked though, maybe because Jared was just as crazy and blindly hopeful for Pied Piper. Whenever they got a win, it made them feel like maybe this is it, that'll it'll only go up from here. Richard just couldn't believe that, after all Jared had done, Erlich and Bighead were still willing to let Jared go with nothing. Jared is the one who said middle-out, Jared is the reason they won the law suit, Jared bought fake users for Pied Piper just so they could last one more day.

At the end of it all, they settled on providing Jared a severance package and a strong reference letter. Richard had to let him go.

All these thoughts flying in his head, yet there was only silence.

An EMS siren finally broke it and, with that, Jared stood up and turned to leave. Richard folded his hands into his lap. He stared at them, he was sickened by the idea that Pied Piper backstabbed Jared like this. He couldn't bear to watch Jared leave.

Jared paused at the doorway and faced Richard once again, "We're not co-workers anymore." he clarified.

Richard looked up. Jared was standing there with his hands in his pockets, a little too casual following what had just happened. His head was tilted in a bashful way, clearly averting eye contact. It was really obvious now how tall Jared really was. Richard admired it, since it always directed the height jokes and attention away from him. In a twist of fate, he noticed that Jared was wearing the same blue button up from the first time he met him while meeting with Gavin. He always liked that colour on him.

"No, we're not." Richard mused over the idea. It was oddly reminiscient of when Monica and him flirted with each other, when they thought their partnership with Raviga had ended. For some reason, that relationship had never felt right. It always felt like a forced narrative that someone else was writing.

Richard wished Jared would continue, but instead he turned away and left to pack up his bedroom garage. Richard didn't realize that he was holding his breath until he was standing in the kitchen alone.

**Author's Note:**

> In my mind, there's more to this story that I'm willing to continue writing, but I won't make any promises that the rest will be posted in a timely fashion. 
> 
> Seek me out on tumblr, if you'd like!  
> praisejarrich.tumblr.com


End file.
